Heinz Award

“’Dr. Steingraber urges governments to adopt policies that safeguard the healthy development of children and the abiding ecological systems on which their lives depend,’ the Heinz Family Foundation said in its profile of the award recipients. ‘Dr. Steingraber has deployed her rare combination of abilities as a lyrical writer, disciplined scientist and passionate advocate to the pursuit of a healthier world for us all, saying, What we love we must protect.’”

This comprehensive Ecowatch piece highlights many of Steingraber’s recent efforts and accomplishments, including the Heinz Award. Read the article

“An Ithaca biologist who recently won a $100,000 national environmental prize is donating most of it to help fuel a gathering of opponents of natural gas hydraulic fracturing.” The Albany Times Union covers Steingraber’s award plans. Read the article

Thirty-two years ago, I heard a surgeon tell me that the tumor was malignant. He then asked about my possible exposures to toxic chemicals. I didn’t know then that his questions would become my life’s work.

Perhaps the best way to express my gratitude for this honor is to say how I intend to spend the money that comes with it. I will be devoting the $100,000 prize to the fight against fracking in upstate New York. Fracking uses fresh water and toxic chemicals as a club to shatter the bedrock of our nation in order to liberate oil and gas. Fracking is an extreme form of fossil fuel extraction that takes us further down a ruinous energy pathway and threatens to add more data points to cancer registries.

In rural New York, we have seen how large checks from the fossil fuel industry beget silence, complicity, and fatalistic resignation. I am interested in the opposite gesture: directing a large check into the community in a way that enables speech, emboldens activism, and recognizes that true security for our children lies in preserving the abiding ecology of our planet on which their lives depend.

I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thank you so much for this honor and this opportunity.